THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD (EPHESIANS 6:10-17)

In reading the Bible, we sometimes gravitate to the most popular passage on a particular subject to the exclusion of others which might give us a fuller picture. This tendency applies to lists such as the names of the tribes of Israel, the identity of the Twelve Apostles, the gifts of the Spirit, and the Christian's heavenly armor. In the last case, we may be pardonably excused for zeroing in on Ephesians 6:10-17 since that list is prefaced by the phrase “The whole armor of God” and Paul repeats these words in v. 13. But the subject of a Christian's armor appears briefly in other biblical passages:

Romans 13:12,14

As a general reference, we have Paul urging the reader in v. 12 to “cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” This appears to be parallel to the thought two verses later to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

II Corinthians 10:3-4

For those Christians who would take the military metaphor too far and feel that God wants them to resort to physical violence against those they perceive as His enemies, this passage should serve as a useful corrective: “For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”

Specific Items in the Armory

Next, let's look elsewhere to see if Ephesians 6 really constitutes the definitive list so that it can be called “the whole armor.” But first a quick review of the items enumerated in that chapter:

    1. the belt of truth

    2. the breastplate of righteousness

    3. shoes to ready you for sharing the gospel of peace

    4. the shield of faithfulness

    5. the helmet of salvation

    6. the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

Isaiah 11:4-5 describes the weapons of the coming Messiah. These include the rod of his mouth =

the breath of his lips as well as the belt of righteousness and faithfulness. The first listed offensive (vs. defensive) piece of armor is roughly equivalent to Paul's sword of the Spirit. But note that there is no one-to-one correspondence between Isaiah's “belt” and Paul's list other than the fact it is a combination of elements in items #1, 2 and 4. Thus, we should not get too hung up in attempting to describe why a belt should be an especially appropriate symbol of one attribute or another.

Isaiah 52:7 talks about the beautiful feet of the one who announces peace, good news and salvation. This description is quite close to #3 in which feet are also related to spreading the Gospel.

Isaiah 59:17 tells of God putting on righteousness like a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head in addition to donning garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapping himself in fury as in a mantle.

Item #2 is obviously an allusion to this OT passage. There is more of a problem in trying to see garments of vengeance and fury in the Ephesian list. One obvious explanation is that this is an attribute of God alone since “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.” Therefore it does not really belong in a believer's arsenal.

Wisdom of Solomon 5:17-20 Even in the OT apocryphal writings we run into the metaphor of armor. In these verses we learn that (a) zeal is the “whole armor of God”; (b) He will wear righteousness as a breastplate (see #2 above); (c) impartial justice is his helmet (a totally different explanation than in #5);and (d) holiness is his shield, contra #4.

Finally, there is one aspect to Paul's list in Ephesians that is vaguely unsatisfying from a literary point of view, namely that there are only six pieces of armor listed. In many other passages, Paul subtly includes the number seven, symbolic of completeness, in his text. And one would think that it should especially show up in describing the “whole” armor of God also. I guess one could possibly count the shoes of item #3 as two rather than one; however, that smacks of cheating. But another approach suggested by Harpur is to continue the passage through Ephesians 6:18 where prayer is mentioned. He perceptively notes that this “auxiliary weapon” is “his vital communication with headquarters.”

II Corinthians 6:7

Even within Paul's own writings, he does not present a consistent symbolic picture of the armor. For example, in this verse he speaks about “the power of God with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.” In this case, it is not the word of God which is the only offensive weapon in a Christian's armory as in #6 above, but righteousness instead. That is interesting since righteousness is listed in Ephesians as a defensive weapon (see #2).

Actually, the image of God's (or Christ's) word as a sword is elsewhere one of the most consistent images utilized in the Bible. See Isaiah 11:4 (the Septuagint version says “He shall strike the earth with the word of his mouth); Isaiah 49:2 (the prophet says, He made my mouth like a sharp sword”); Hebrews 4:12 (“the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword”); Revelation 1:16 (a sharp two-edged sword comes from Christ's mouth); Revelation 2:16 (in which Christ will make war on heretics in the church with the sword of his mouth); and Revelation 19:13-15,21 (the rider named The Word of God makes war against the nations with the sharp sword from his mouth).

I Thessalonians 5:8

“But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” Paul combines the familiar triad “faith, hope, and love” together with military metaphor. And although the helmet as “the hope of salvation” is equivalent to “the helmet of salvation” of item #5, the breastplate in I Thessalonians represents faith and love rather than standing for righteousness as in #2.

Conclusion

Look at all passages on a given subject to get the broadest view; keep in mind the strictly figurative nature of a Christian's armor; and do not expect strict consistency in the imagery employed by biblical authors.